Social Networks and Personal Relationships

Social networks have always influenced the day-to-day interactions of people, and our chapter highlights the latest research on the significance of these noteworthy social ties in people’s personal relationships. We attend to both romantic relationships and friendship connections, focusing on themes of network effects in relationship formation, maintenance, and dissolution. The findings we review underline the notable ways in which the social environment shapes our closest connections and often strengthens them. We also discuss the extension of network science to investigate marginalized relationships, such as those of sexual minorities, and note the potential for social networks to have a “dark side” in which social connections become problematic. We then address emerging scholarship regarding the positive and negative links between COVID-19 and social networks. Finally, we consider future avenues for research on this notable topic.